Global Warming is Confirmed

[Jonbo298]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A parcel of studies looking at the oceans and melting Arctic ice leave no room for doubt
that it is getting warmer, people are to blame, and the weather is going to suffer, climate experts say.

New computer models that look at ocean temperatures instead of the atmosphere show the clearest signal yet that
global warming is well underway, said Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Speaking at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Barnett said on
Thursday climate models based on air temperatures are weak because most of the evidence for global warming is not
even there.

"The real place to look is in the ocean," Barnett told a news conference.

His team used millions of temperature readings made by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
to calculate steady ocean warming.

"The debate over whether or not there is a global warming signal is now over, at least for rational people," he said.

The report was published one day after the United Nations Kyoto Protocol took effect, a 141-nation environmental
pact the United States government has spurned for several reasons, including stated doubts about whether global
warming is occurring and is caused by people.

Barnett urged U.S. officials to reconsider.

"Could a climate system simply do this on its own? The answer is clearly no," Barnett said.

His team used U.S. government models of solar warming and volcanic warming, just to see if they could account for
the measurements they made. "Not a chance," he said.

And the effects will be felt far and wide. "Anywhere that the major water source is fed by snow ... or glacial melt," he
said. "The debate is what are we going to do about it."

COLD WINTERS, HOMELESS POLAR BEARS

Other researchers found clear effects on climate and animals.

Ruth Curry of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found that melting ice was changing the water cycle, which in
turn affects ocean currents and, ultimately, climate.

"As the Earth warms, its water cycle is changing, being pushed out of kilter," she said. "Ice is in decline everywhere
on the planet."

A circulation system called the Ocean Conveyer Belt is in danger of shutting down, she said. The last time that
happened, northern Europe suffered extremely cold winters.

She said the changes were already causing droughts in the U.S. West.

Greenland's ice cap, which contains enough ice to raise sea levels globally by 23 feet (7 metres), is starting to melt
and could collapse suddenly, Curry said. Already freshwater is percolating down, lubricating the base and making it
more unstable.

Sharon Smith of the University of Miami found melting Arctic ice was taking with it algae that formed an important
base of the food supply for a range of animals.

And the disappearing ice shelves meant big animals such as walruses, polar bears and seals were losing their
homes.

"In 1997 there was a mass die-off of a bird called the short-tailed shearwater in the Bering Sea," Smith told the news
conference.

The birds, which migrate from Australia, starved to death for several years running when warmer waters caused a
plankton called a coccolithophore to bloom in huge numbers, turning the water an opaque turquoise colour.

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissin...43&sid=5548239

Scary stuff. Since its essentially proved that we are causing global warming, what can be done? Will Bush or any other future president open their eyes off of corporate greed/money and see that this is a huge problem and push laws for cleaner air to try and reduce the damage we have done to our own Earth?

[Vampyr]

I thought this had already been proven a long time ago. o_O

I mean, they've been teaching it to us for as long as I can remember.

I still am not sure that they entirely know what they are talking about. In a few years they will say the next ice age is coming.

At leat they are unpredictable.

[Typhoid]

It has already been proven.


Like...years ago.

Because right now in Geography we're learning how Global Warming is our fault.

And plus I kind of know Global warming occurs, because ever since I was 8, we've been getting less and less snow in Vancouver, up until the past 4 or so years when we get maybe only 6 inches total. (In my area)

When I was 8, we were getting like....a foot and a bit.

The thing most people dont understand, is that one country alone cannot stop Global Warming. If Canada, or the US stops using items that cause it, that will not solve the problem. Everyone needs to do the same.

[GameMaster]

The people who rule countries now just don't understand. Our generation is going to have to clean the Earth that our parents and grandparents have ruined. Figuratively speaking, it'll be up to people like Vampyr and Dylan to save humanity.

[Happydude]

Originally Posted by GameMaster

it'll be up to people like Vampyr and Dylan to save humanity.

we're doomed!!! doomed i tells ya!!!


as for global warming, yeah...it's been proven a long time ago, but i think what this artcile wants to put forward is that it's our fault and not nature's...right now the only thing i could think of that would REALLY help global warming is if everyone in the world stopped driving cars and started using public transportation or biking or roller blading or something like that. and since that's not going to happen, we're doomed!!

[Jonbo298]

I should've clarified the title. Global Warming - Worse then it seems right now

[Blackmane]

Driving is not the major contributor to CO2 emissions. Rice fields and cows have always released more than cars, so please, no more of the low emission cars.

Ice fields are constantly shifting which makes it incredibly difficult to get accurate readings of ice levels in the Arctic.

I like how none of their actual numbers are shown in the article. All it says is ocean temperatures show more evidence than air.

Does anyone remember a time about 20 or so years ago when scientists were warning about global cooling?

[Happydude]

i wasn't even born 20 years ago...how would i remember that?

[Jonbo298]

Originally Posted by Blackmane

Driving is not the major contributor to CO2 emissions. Rice fields and cows have always released more than cars, so please, no more of the low emission cars.

So I should get a car that puffs out the worst smoke ever and keep driving it all day because its not gonna affect the atmosphere? Sorry, I won't believe that. Even if Cows and Rice fields do, cars are a big contributer, IMO.

Why do you not want low emission cars? Whats the problem in that considering in like 30 years (last I heard I think) fossil fuels will have run out. What will we do then?

[Blackmane]

The benefits of retrofitting peoples lives into low-emission cars is not efficient enough to the enviroment to warant all this money being thrown at the idea. Making these cars is more costly, uses more energy to make, and pollutes water in the making of these vehicles.

Frankly, newer cars are already doing better with the natural progression of catalytic converters and more efficient motor designs. I don't see what the big hub-bub is to get even lower emission cars that maybe emit a small amount less emissions.

Pouring out smoke? Thats why there are smog checks. I don't want huge clunkers on the road, but you gotta draw the line sooner or later. I'm just drawing it here.

See, I don't want to have a car that is an obvious polluter. I drive a 91 Honda, which does very good on mileage and emissions, before there was this huge uproar about emissions and global warming and everything (at least not as bad as today.) Why did we have to go further than that and force out technology into cars that is not cost-efficient?

Of course cars are contributors of CO2 emissions, but people act like that is the primary reason, which automatically points the finger at us for everything, when other nations have a constant haze of fog over there urban areas (China). Thats one of the main reasons that I'm glad we didn't sign the Kyoto Treaty, because it didn't hold everyone accountable, especially China.

[Typhoid]

Originally Posted by Blackmane

Of course cars are contributors of CO2 emissions, but people act like that is the primary reason, which automatically points the finger at us for everything, when other nations have a constant haze of fog over there urban areas (China). Thats one of the main reasons that I'm glad we didn't sign the Kyoto Treaty, because it didn't hold everyone accountable, especially China.

Ok, so if Cows, and Rice fields cause more CO2, why is it since the Industrial Revolution (The past 200-300 years) more damage has been done to the earth, and the earth's ozone than the rest of existance on this planet?

Other areas have a constant haze of Fog? Oh....you must mean like New York, and California, and Florida.

Thos dont seem to be in China..

[Crono]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

Ok, so if Cows, and Rice fields cause more CO2, why is it since the Industrial Revolution (The past 200-300 years) more damage has been done to the earth, and the earth's ozone than the rest of existance on this planet?

Other areas have a constant haze of Fog? Oh....you must mean like New York, and California, and Florida.

Thos dont seem to be in China..

Well, I suppose cows don't release the other hundreds (or thousands) of dangerous chemicals that we are currently emitting into the atmosphere.

For the record, my city produces more sulfur pollution than any other in the world.

[Blackmane]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

Ok, so if Cows, and Rice fields cause more CO2, why is it since the Industrial Revolution (The past 200-300 years) more damage has been done to the earth, and the earth's ozone than the rest of existance on this planet?

Other areas have a constant haze of Fog? Oh....you must mean like New York, and California, and Florida.

Thos dont seem to be in China..

Yea, that looks like New York, or even Los Angelas. Right...

I hope I'm getting across an important fact that many people don't realize and that is: We are a very clean nation already considering how much energy we need. That is because Americans in general are responcible and want to live in a fairly clean enviroment. We don't pollute in excess.

And why is the ozone holes not above the places with the most pollution, but is above Antartica? That doesn't seem like that should be right, if CO2 emissions from us humans is really to blaim.

[Typhoid]

Originally Posted by Blackmane

And why is the ozone holes not above the places with the most pollution, but is above Antartica? That doesn't seem like that should be right, if CO2 emissions from us humans is really to blaim.

Dont even try argue this.

Im in Geology, and Geography.

The hole is up there not from cows or rice, its because of the wind patterns, and where it all accumulates.

It all accumulates at the poles, because thats the way it is directed to go.


And face it, in the past 200 years, We as people, have affected the earth, and the earth's ozone, than Earth has been affected over all of its 4 billion years.

Im sure cows and rice have been around for more than 200 years. And im sure there are Cows and Rice in places other than China.

[Blackmane]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

Dont even try argue this.

Im in Geology, and Geography.

The hole is up there not from cows or rice, its because of the wind patterns, and where it all accumulates.

It all accumulates at the poles, because thats the way it is directed to go.


And face it, in the past 200 years, We as people, have affected the earth, and the earth's ozone, than Earth has been affected over all of its 4 billion years.

Im sure cows and rice have been around for more than 200 years. And im sure there are Cows and Rice in places other than China.

Oh gee, my bad. In that case, I won't argue it. I'm sure your Geography teacher knows for a fact how the Earth works and knows for a fact that we are the sole reasons for global warming.

I'll keep my mouth shut then, because you obviously have it figured out.

You want to throw around facts? I went to an engineering presentation where a study was taken with temperatures taken around the world for some 50 years and then averaged together for a mean temperature of the earth at those times. The graph showed steady variations in temperatures, up AND down, over the whole time. There was no steady increase that global warming nuts are talking about.

But, I'm sure that that was just a lie or fabricated...

And, like I have said, I'm not suggesting we just pollute indescriminetely, but I think forced measures like the Kyoto treaty, which don't hold really big polluters like China accountable (which, besides what I have already said, also burns a lot of coal now), is not the right way to go. People, in general, want where they live to be clean, so if everyone took responcibility for their own lives, then I feel that is being responcible.

It is my feeling that we as humans are so insignificant to the earth that we cannot harm it. It can take care of itself. Does anyone think it slightly ridiculous that something as powerful as the Earth that has lasted for 4 billion years can all of a sudden be killed by 200 measly years of meddling by humans? I think not.